The US impeachment inquiry emerges from behind closed doors at last.
For more than a month, the process – which could end in a Senate vote on Donald Trump’s removal from office – has been shrouded in mystery.
The biggest revelations have come from leaks, anonymous media reports and voluminous deposition transcripts where even the most explosive and revealing moments can be drained of drama when presented on the written page.
That all changes on Wednesday.
Here are four things to keep in mind as the lights go up and the cameras turn on in the House Intelligence Committee hearing room.
It’s unlikely there will be many surprises in the testimony offered by the three witnesses scheduled to testify this week.
Acting US Ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State George Kent and former US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch have already appeared at closed-door committee hearings, and transcripts of their depositions have been released (and, before that,
leaked to the press).
The bombshells, for those who want to view them as such, have already exploded. The allegations of an exchange of favours (a quid pro quo) and a shadow foreign policy have already been disclosed and picked over.
If things go according to plan for Democrats, the three witnesses will simply repeat their previous answers – only this time, with the public watching. What may be important is not what they say but how they say it. Do they look and sound credible? Are there hints of doubt in their
recollections? Will they be rattled by hostile Republican questioning?
Public opinion has hardened around partisan lines. Democrats are hoping increased public support could persuade wavering Republicans to support the president’s removal.
The impeachment process is rife with legal language – depositions and due process, evidence and examinations – but it is, at its heart, a political undertaking. Politicians are the prosecutors, defenders, judges and jury. And politicians, in the end, are answerable to the people who elected
them.
It is the people, the voters, for whom the politicians will be performing. The goal of this week’s impeachment theatre is to shape their views and win them over.
